Lost Family
by darkwings211
Summary: Three years after the worlds are united people start to disappear. When Lloyd gets captured too he meets a strange woman that seem familiar. Now he will have to choose between his friends and his newly found family.
1. Chapter 1

The heroes of World Regeneration were gathered in Zelos' mansion to discuss the events that had been going on. Three years had passed since they had defeated Yggdrasil and the two worlds were united, but now a new problem was arising. Several weeks ago people had started to go missing. First, some researchers of Sybak and The Imperial Academy started disappearing one by one. Then other people started disappearing too. The news had spread quickly and people from all around the world were terrified. They started believing that this was a punishment from the goddess for changing the world's nature and stopping the Chosens' Journeys.

The friends finally decided to gather up after the most recent disappearance: Seles Wilder. After finding that his sister had gone missing Zelos Wilder was furious. Search parties were sent all over the world to look for the young Wilder, but, like all the other parties previously sent, found nothing. The only clue there was found was a single feather on Seles' room.

"Do you think there are angels behind this?" a fifteen year old Genis asked.

"It can't be possible. The only angels left are Colette, Zelos and Lloyd." Raine's voice sounded tired. She had been investigating these events for weeks and could not found any trace or pattern in the several disappearing. The only thing they had in common was the single feather found were people disappeared.

"Isn't Mr. Yuan an Angel too?" Colette asked. She had also been investigating since many pastors from both Sylvarant's and Tethe'alla's church had disappeared.

"You are right. Lloyd, you are the one who sees him more often. Do you think Yuan is behind all this?" Zelos said worry present in his voice. The flirty Chosen hadn't been acting like himself since his sister had gone missing. Even if neither of them would admit it, they cared for each other deeply, and Seles' disappearance had affected Zelos.

The brunette shook his head. "No, I haven't seen him in a while."

"My Mizuho scouts haven't found anything either." Sheena said sighting.

"I'm going to kill whoever did this to my sister when I find them. No one messes with Zelos Wilder." He said letting his anger and concern show.

"Perhaps it is a rebellion from a city or a new group." Presea's monotone voice came as usual. She could show emotion thanks to her key crest but some things never change.

"It is highly unlikely. People from all over the world have disappeared. It can't be a rebellion from a certain city or country." Regal stated with his hand on his chin.

"That means no, right?" Lloyd asked confused by Regal's words.

"Yes, Lloyd. It means it can't be a rebellion."

"That a relief. It's not good for people to be fighting each other." Colette said concerned for everyone as usual.

"We need more clues."

"I will keep investigating. Perhaps we overlooked something." Raine said getting up. "Genis let's go."

"Ok sis." Genis followed his sister. "Goodbye everyone. Bye Presea"

The Sage siblings said goodbye to their friends and left to Iselia.

"I should be leaving too. I'll have my scouts to look deeper into this." Sheena said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

One by one everyone left until there were only Lloyd and Zelos were left.

"I'm sorry we couldn't find anything Zelos." The Eternal Swordsman said slumping on the couch next to his friend.

"You did your best, bud. It's not your fault." He said casually putting an arm around his friend.

"But we can't just ignore this. I hate not being able to do something when people are suffering! I feel so… useless!" Lloyd exclaimed slamming his fist on the table.

"Whoa. Easy bud!" Zelos said inching away from his fuming friend. "We don't even know what these guys are doing to the disappeared people."

Lloyd took a deep breath and calmed down. "You're right. We are going to find out what's going on. I promise Zelos, we are going to find out your sister."

Lloyd got up and headed out after saying good-bye to Zelos. On his way out of Meltokio Lloyd stopped in a small plaza and sat on a bench. The man found himself looking up at the stars and remembered the last time he was there with his dad. He watched people go by on their way home and then he saw a man dressed in a white robe, probably from the Research Academy. He turned his attention back to the sky above them when his angelic hearing caught a muffled scream. His head turned to the source of the sound where the researcher was once walking but saw nothing. He looked around and found no signs of him and then something caught his eye. Near an alley where the researcher had once been a single feather was resting.

-_-_-_-

Near the village of Ozette on a cliff side lived an old dwarf that once worked with Cruxis. Altessa usually stayed inside his house working on his projects but that night he had decided to go outside and enjoy the cool night. He looked around and felt the loneness of his home. The village of Ozette had been rebuilt and he had visits from time to time from Presea or one of her companions, but most of the time he was alone. At times like this he missed Tabatha. The automated doll he created had offered herself as Martel's vessel and was reborn as the Summon Spirit Martel. He had no company anymore, even dwarfs feel lonely sometimes.

"Ah, well. There's no point in lingering on the past." He said to himself and turned to his house.

Somewhere on the shadows something moved. This went unnoticed by the dwarf as he continued toward his house. Just as he opened the door to his house he was held by someone. A hand covered his mouth and nose and the other one held his arms to keep him from moving. The figure murmured some words and Altessa stopped struggling with his captor as he fell into unconsciousness. A white light engulfed the two of them. When it faded there was no sign of Altessa or his captor, instead a single feather rested on the floor in front of the open door to the dwarf's house.

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I've had this idea on my mind for a while and decided to give it a try.

Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Here's the next chapter. I hope you like it, and please tell me what yoou think of it.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or any of its characters.**

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"I see. So Altessa has gone missing too."

"That is correct."

Presea had gone to visit the dwarf and found the door to his house opened and Altessa missing. Outside the house there were signs of struggling on the floor and in front of the door she found a feather. The pink haired girl had gone to inform Regal immediately and they were now discussing in the man's office in Altamira.

"Did you found anything suspicious?" Regal questioned the fifteen year old girl.

Presea turned to look in her bag and then pulled out a feather. "Just this."

The bluenett took the feather and examined it. "This might be related to the other disappeared people" he said moving a hand to his chin.

"Probability of Altessa's disappearance to be related to the other cases: 99%" she calculated from the chair she was sitting on. "I think we should inform Professor Raine about this."

"I agree. After all, Raine is the one investigating this case more deeply."

-_-_-_-

On the city of Sybak a certain ninja was arguing with a researcher on the area before the labs.

"What do you mean I can't see her?!"

"I-I'm sorry Sheena b-but…" the poor researcher was scared of the angry woman before him. Last time she got mad with someone it didn't end up well.

"This is very important. I _need_ to see Kate!" Sheena yelled.

"I-I…. She disappeared! I'mnotsupposedtosaythisbecausethedirectordoesn'twantpeopletoknow! There, I told you! Please don't harm. Please! I beg you!" blurted the man shaking from head to toes.

"So, Kate is missing too" said Sheena more to herself than to anybody else. "I guess there's nothing for me to do here then."

She turned on her and walked away leaving a trembling man behind her. The scientist gave a sigh of relief but his fears invaded him again as he saw the summoner stop dead in her track and run back to him.

"I almost forgot" she said "did you find anything suspicious where she disappeared?"

"J-Just a feather. The director kept it." He said color draining from his face. "Would y-you like to t-take a look at it?"

Sheena shook her head and thanked the man before going out of town and jumping on her Rheaird. "Just as I thought" she said before heading for Mizuho.

-_-_-_-

At Iselia two half-elves were walking through town talking. They stopped in front of a big house with many plants. Genis and Raine climbed the steps and knocked on the door.

"I'm coming!" a cheerful voice came from inside accompanied by the sound of rushing steps and then…

_Thump!_

"Whoops!"

"Colette, are you all right?"

"Heheh, yeah. Sorry I tripped."

Shortly the door opened and the Sage siblings looked at Colette with a red mark on her forehead and Lloyd at the back sitting in a couch with a cup of coffee resting on his hands.

"Hi guys!" he greeted from his seat.

"Hello! Please, come in." said the Sylvarant chosen.

The two half-elves entered the house and took a sit on a couch across from the one where Lloyd was. Colette went to the kitchen and returned with two cups filled with hot coffee. After handing them to her friends she sat on a chair.

"You wanted to talk to us?" she said taking her own cup.

"Yes. It's about the recent events. It seems more people have disappeared" said Raine taking a sip of coffee.

"What!?" Lloyd almost dropped the cup in his hand.

"Presea and Regal contacted us yesterday. Presea went to visit Altessa and found him gone also we received a message from Sheena saying that Kate and some people of the Mizuho Information Network are missing too." Genis explained after placing his cup on the table.

"That's horrible." The blond moved her hands so they covered her mouth as she thought about what was going on.

"Well, did you found something important? Figured out who's behind all this?" Lloyd said taking deep breaths to calm down.

"No."

"We just found a feather."

The four friends kept left the subject of the disappeared people and starting talking about other things. They kept talking for a while and eventually, the light dimmed as the sun was setting. Lloyd stretched his arms and prepared to leave. Although he was already an adult his father would worry if he arrived late.

"I'm going home. See you tomorrow?"

"Sure. Bye Lloyd"

"Goodbye."

"Be careful."

With a final 'goodnight' Lloyd left the house of his childhood friend and walked around town towards the exit that leads to the woods. All the while thoughts about the disappeared people clouded his mind. Who could be behind them? 'W_hat could someone gain from this? They're not asking for money to give them back or a trade like when Princess Hilda was kidnapped.' _He thought as he traveled through the woods. He looked around seeing that it was now dark and hurried up. _'… and now Altessa and Kate are gone too. After all they did for us: they helped us a lot with Colette's sickness and fixing her crystal. I can't believe I couldn't do anything to he-'_ At that moment something that nobody ever thought would happen happened: Lloyd solved part of the mystery about the disappearances; he actually _used_ his brain for once.

"That's it!" he said snapping his fingers. "Altessa, Kate, the researchers from Sybak and the Academy, the people of Mizuho, Seles, the priests… all of the people who have disappeared knew about the Cruxis Crystals and Exspheres, and they helped us during the Journey. I have to tell the Professor!" he began running back to Iselia but stopped in midway. "It is already late. I guess I could wait for tomorrow." He said out loud before turning back on his way home.

Something in the trees something moved. Lloyd stopped and looked around but saw nothing. '_Calm down Lloyd. I was probably just an animal.' _He continued walking as he tried to calm himself. Suddenly from somewhere behind the trees a figure leapt out and landed behind him.

"Wha-" The Eternal Swordsman couldn't finish his sentence as he found a hand firmly covering his mouth. He tried to reach for his swords, but, with a swift movement his opponent took them away from him.

"Lloyd Irving, you know too much. I'm afraid you'll have to come with me."

Lloyd managed to get away from his captors' grip and turned around to get his swords. He got a good look at the person in front of him.

A girl, probably his age, stood facing him. Her sapphire blue eyes glared at him. She was wearing black clothes that resembled the mizuhoan uniform ninjas wore and a hood covered her all of her face except for her eyes. As he tried to reach for his swords, Lloyd felt a foot connect with his chest and was thrown to grown. The attack effectively took out Lloyd's breath and he found himself kneeling on the floor panting, unable to get up.

"As I said before: you will come with me" the woman walked to where he was and murmured something in angelic language before a bright light engulfed them. As soon as the word came out of her mouth Lloyd fell unconscious and a feather fell in the place where they once stood.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 is up! There's not much of Lloyd in this chapter but... oh well. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia, do don'y sue.

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There were very few people who could make Agkelia angry. This person, who she had just meet and only exchanged a few words with, quickly became one of those people. She was furious! Why should she babysit some outsider? One thing was that she was sent to bring him here, but this was enough. Why would the elders make her do this!

She sat on a chair in a room giving the stranger laying on a bed a death glare that would make most people's blood run cold.

"Uh-oh. She's giving him the 'death glare'. That guy should better run" a voice made her look up and she saw a man around 22 leaning against the doorframe.

"Jim." She said and resumed her glaring at the man in the bed.

"S'up Kelia?" he asked calling her by her nickname and sitting on a chair next to her.

"Nothing."

"What did this guy did to deserve your oh-so-famous 'death glare'?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

"I don't see the problem." He admitted shaking her head.

"That is the problem!" she said losing her temper. "He has done nothing! He's just another outsider they sent me to bring here and now those fucking elders want me to 'watch out for him'! I'm no babysitter! What's so special 'bout him!"

"Oh. So that was it. Well, do you know anything about the guy?" said Jim jerking his thumb in the direction of the bed.

Agkelia shook her head. "Nothing. The elders wouldn't say a thing."

A short silence followed them and with a sigh Agkelia stood up. "Say, could you watch him for me? I'm going for an ice cream. I need something to calm down."

"…Sure, but I want a chocolate one" he looked over at the man and added "What should I do if the dude wakes up?"

"I dunno. He should be too confused by the sedative they gave him. Just make sure he doesn't leave this room. 'Kay?

"Got it. I'm expecting a chocolate ice cream when you come back."

"Yeah yeah." The auburnette left the room leaving Jim and the other man alone.

Jim moved his gaze to the younger man. He had spiky brown hair that stayed up and was wearing a red jacket with buttons everywhere and two white ribbons coming from the collar, red gloves, red boots, blue pants, two belts and suspenders. The man was sprawled over the bed snoring and drooling.

Turning away from the stranger Jim unsheathed the sword hanging from his belt and started cleaning it. "I wonder who this guy is" he said to no one in particular.

-_-_-_-

Back at Iselia seven friends were gathered on Colettes Brunel's house. It was already noon and nobody had seen a sign of Lloyd since last night when he left Colette's house. On the morning dirk had come to the village asking if Lloyd had stayed there because he never came home. Soon, everyone was looking for the swordsman. After some time Noishe had returned from the woods carrying something in his mouth. To everyone's dismay it was a feather, but this one was different from all other feathers they had found.

"It's beautiful." Colette said looking at the blue and purple feather Raine was holding. It shone with the sunlight and was translucent.

"Can you feel it sis?" Genis asked peering from behind his sister's shoulder to get a good look at the feather.

"Yes. The mana that comes from it, it's unlike any other thing I've sensed before."

"It resembled the mana of angels, like Colette's and Zelos', but it is also different. A little creepy if you ask me" added the silver haired mage.

"We should be looking for Lloyd, not admiring a feather that probably belongs to whoever captured him!" Zelos said ticked off by how they seemed to forget about his 'bud'.

"I really hate saying this but: Zelos is right. We should be looking for Lloyd." Sheena said with a sigh and looked shocked at the redhead who hadn't made a flirty comment back at her.

"You're right. I apologize." Raine said pocketing the feather and turning to her companions. "I would assume Lloyd, like the rest of the people who have disappeared, was kidnapped."

"But, by who?" Presea asked.

"That, I don't know" said the half-elf with a sad expression.

A long silence followed as everyone thought about the missing brunette. After some time Regal broke it.

"Perhaps, Yuan knows something about it."

"Yeah, he knows a lot of things!" Genis said as his expression light up.

Everyone agreed to Regal's idea and they separated in three groups to look for the blue haired angel.

"Regal and Presea will look for him at the Flanoir Base, Zelos and Colette will go to the Mana Tree and Genis and I will head for the Triet Base." Raine said as they headed outside and took out their Rheaird and the Chosens spread their wings.

"What about me?" Sheena asked looking rather insulted.

"Right, sorry. You can go with whoever you want." Raine said as she and Genis took off for Triet.

The ninja huffed and discarded the idea of going with the Sages. She had never really got along with Raine. Then, she turned to see the rest. "I guess I'm going to Flanoir. Is it alright with you two?"

"Not at all." The two said and then took off.

Zelos and Colette looked at each other and headed to the rests of what had once been the Tower of Salvation.

Meanwhile Raine and Genis had arrived at the Triet Base. The Renegades were no longer a secret organization. They now served as an information network, like the Mizuho people or the Katz. They talked to the guard at the entrance and then headed to Yuan's office.

When they arrived at room they found a blue haired mad sitting at a desk doing paperwork.

"Well, that was easy." Genis said as they entered.

"Hm… Raine, Genis? What the reason of having your lovely presence here?" he said looking at Raine.

Genis looked angrily at how the man looked at his sister and almost flipped out when he saw her trying to hide a blush.

"Actually, we are here to ask you about Lloyd." Raine said trying to ignore the heat she felt on her checks.

"Lloyd? What's wrong with him?"

"He disappeared!" Genis yelled startling the half-elf.

"He disappeared too?" Yuan said with a shocked expression.

"What do you mean with 'too'?" asked Raine skeptically.

Yuan sighed and set apart his papers. He stood up and led them to another room where they sat down.

"A few months ago, Renegades started disappearing. We have been investigating about this but we haven't found a thing" said Yuan looking thoughtful. "You said Lloyd is missing too?"

"That is correct." Raine said. "We haven't seen him since last night."

Genis shifted in his seat. "We've looked everywhere, but it's like he just vanished."

"Hm…." Yuan looked at nowhere in particular, lost in his thoughts. "Did you found anything? Whenever a Renegade disappeared a feather was found."

Raine took out the feather Noishe had found earlier and handed it to Yuan. He took it and his eyes widened in shock after examining it. "This can't be…"

"You sense it too? Raine and I could sense a weird mana coming from it." Genis said looking at the leader of the Renegades. Perhaps he knew something about where Lloyd was.

"This mana… I There is only one person that can have this kind of mana."

"You know the owner of this feather?" Raine asked in hopes of finding Lloyd.

"Yes, I do" Yuan said leaving the feather on a table and rubbing his temples "Except that there is a problem."

"And that is?"

"The only person I know with this mana signature died some time ago –seven years ago to be exact."


	4. Chapter 4

I'm back with the next chapter! This one is longer than the rest, I hope you like it. Also, do you like long chapters of short ones? R&R.

**Diclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia, I wish I did.

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Lloyd turned in his sleep and felt the sun's rays entering through the window. He ignored it and tried to fall asleep once more. Every single cell of his body hurt and kept him away. What did he do last night? He had spent the afternoon with Colette, Genis, and Raine. Then he had gone home and… Despite the piercing pain that shot through his body Lloyd forced himself to a sitting a position as he remembered. He had been walking through the woods on his way home when a girl knocked him out. He looked at his surroundings. The first thing he noticed is was that he was still wearing his clothes but they had taken his swords away. He was in a big room. The walls were painted of an ivory color and it had wooden floor. He was resting on a bed and next to it was another bed. There was a window between the two beds and a little night table with a lamp over it.

"Hey, you're awake." Lloyd turned his attention to the other side of the room. There was a table with four chairs and a man sat in one of them. He had blue short hair and was wearing a white shirt with a brown jacket. Its sleeves reached the man's elbows and he was wearing grey pants and normal shoes. The next thing Lloyd noticed, much to his dismay, is that the man had a sword.

Gathering all of his strength and making a huge effort to ignore the pain that spread through his body, he stood up. He made his best effort to look intimidating recalling how his dad used to look and gave him the 'Aurion glare'.

"That's not going to work. I'm used to being glared." Said the strange man and stood up, crossing his arms over his chest. "Who are you?"

"Give me your name and I'll give mine." Lloyd used his usual phrase even though he had promised himself he would never say that again.

"Fine" the man said slightly smiling, with confused Lloyd. People would usually make an insulting comment or said something back when he used that phrase before. "I'm Jim. Now, who are you?"

"You are the one who captured me. You should know." He responded too confused about the fact that someone had actually responded to his usual phrase.

"Now, now, I didn't capture you, and I'm seriously offended you confused me with your captor. I'm a guy, not a girl for crying out loud!" he said throwing his arms up and looking at the ceiling dramatically "I told you my name, you tell me yours."

Lloyd was taken aback by the man's attitude and blurted. "Lloyd Irving."

"Lloyd Irving?" Jim was about to say something more when the door opened reveling a girl with carrying two ice-creams.

Lloyd immediately recognized the girl as the one that he saw on the woods. She was dressed differently. She had a purple shirt with a white, short sleeved vest that ended an inch under her ribcage. She had blue pants and white boots with two blue straps each. She was wearing three belts, the third one slanting to her right side. She glared at Lloyd and he glared back.

"You're awake." She stated and then handed an ice cream to Jim.

"Thanks." He said and looked at Lloyd. "He woke up a few minutes ago."

"I see." She turned to him and smiled "Thanks."

Jim shrugged licking his ice-cream. "No problem. I have to go train, see ya' later."

He left the room and Agkelia walked to the table, sat and started to eat her ice-cream completely ignoring him.

"Who are you?" Lloyd asked still glaring.

"My name's Agkelia." she said not bothering to look at him.

"Where are we?" he asked hoping to learn about this place.

"In a room, duh" Agkelia gave him the obvious answer in a tone that showed he wouldn't get any answers from her.

Lloyd growled as he sat in the edge of one of the beds. In his mind he started to make a plan to escape. Why were people always trying to capture him?! He gave a loud sigh thanking Martel that his friends hadn't been captured too. This caused him to give a bitter chuckle. Even after they had learned the truth about Martelism the red clad swordsman found himself thanking or cursing the 'Goddess Martel' often. It was a little ironic for him, seeing that he was one of the people who helped 'destroy' Martelism and opposed the church.

His thoughts were interrupted by a beeping sound coming from somewhere where Agkelia was seating. As he looked over to the other side of the room he saw her take out a weird device. It looked like a small circle with a screen that covered most of the object, leaving space for only three buttons. She pressed the middle button and an image appeared. It was a man that looked in his mid thirties and had a cloak covering his body. I he hadn't seen projectors in his previous journey Lloyd would have thought it was a tiny man who appeared out of nowhere.

"Master" the woman bowed her head slightly and a small smile came to the man's face. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, everything is fine. Actually, I have a request for you." The man's voice sounded stern and wise, but at the same time it sounded gentle. "Tomorrow we wish to talk to Lloyd Irving, the outsider you are currently watching. The elders wish for you to escort him here to make sure he won't try to escape."

The man's words caused Agkelia to scowl but she quickly covered it up with the calm expression she had earlier. "I see. At what time will that be?"

"Around ten would be fine."

"Okay" the man nodded before the image disappeared and she growled in her mind as she stuffed the communicator in her bag. She looked around before standing up and looking at Lloyd, who was lying on his back looking at the ceiling. "Get up, we have to get going"

"Huh?" Lloyd looked at the woman confused. "I thought the man said tomorrow at ten."

"Well, you shouldn't listen to other's conversations. Now move." She opened the door and stopped when she didn't heard footsteps.

"You know I could escape if we go out so you?" Lloyd pointed out in the same position.

Agkelia laughed and looked at a now frowning Lloyd "I doubt that."

Lloyd shook his head and stood up with a slight smirk. Escaping would be easier than he thought. He followed the woman outside the room and found that it was like an inn. They passed a few doors and when they were out Lloyd could almost hear his jaw hitting the floor as he looked open-mouthed around him. They were in a city he was certain he had never been to before. It slightly resembled Meltokio, except that it was two, maybe three times bigger. The city was filled with big buildings and there were several canals with blue, clear water passing through the city. Part of it was over a mountain. Most of the buildings there were big and looked older than the rest. At the top of the mountain he could spot a building, probably a temple. It seemed older than the other buildings and not as well-cared. '_Probably because not many people would climb all the way to the top of mountain' _he thought. There was also one that looked like a temple in the lower area. It was the biggest of all the buildings. The rest of the city spread down from the mountain. A few miles away you could see plains and farther away the sea. After looking around a bit more he realized something: The city was on an island. '_Great, just what I needed'_ Lloyd thought sarcastically. _An island? Seriously? How am I supposed to escape without a Rheaird? Well, if I could get a boat maybe…_

"Pretty amazing, right?" Lloyd was interrupted once again from his thoughts, this time by Agkelia. She stood leaning over a railing as they were in a slightly elevated area and her annoyed and cold tone was gone, replaced by a more casual one.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. It huge" Lloyd said forgetting about acting unfriendly towards the woman as well. Ha walked over to the rail now grinning. "What is this place?"

The woman looked at him for a moment and then looked away. She stared at the sea deep in thought for a minute and the sighed. "I guess it wouldn't hurt." She muttered before turning back to the swordsman. "This is…Valkaria."

"Val…karia? I've never heard of it before" Lloyd looked confused trying to recall if he had ever heard that name before. Sure, he never paid attention in class, but he had traveled around the two worlds and had never saw or heard of this city.

To Agkelia the expression on Lloyd's face was almost comical as he tried to remember the name from somewhere ineffectively. "Don't think so much or you'll hurt yourself" she said coldly.

"Hey!" Lloyd exclaimed. She had known him for a few hours and she could already tell Lloyd wasn't the brightest person.

"Let's go" she said walking further into the city.

Lloyd followed the auburn haired female out the city until they reached a wide open area. There other people fighting or rather, training there. Lloyd could see humans, elves, half-elves, even a couple of dwarfs and some creatures he had never seen before. He noticed, like he had when they were going through the city, that they all seemed friendly to each other. It almost seemed like they didn't saw any difference between them. Humans, half-elves, and elves seemed to treat each other equally in this place. If only he could show Genis and the Professor how people treated each other here, they would be so happy.

"What are we doing here?" he said looking around.

"These are the training fields" the sapphire-eyed girl said as they reached an area marked like a rectangle the size of a basketball court. "I want to see if you really are a good fighter or the people from Sylvarant and Tethe'alla were just bragging when they said the great hero Lloyd could defeat a whole army alone."

Lloyd gave her a cocky smile as his hand went to the hilts of his swords. "I'm sure I'm even better than that."

"We'll see about that" she said back taking a position across from Lloyd. "I won't hold back, so I do not expect you to do so."

Lloyd unsheathed his swords and ran to Agkelia. "You don't even have a weapon." He raised one of his swords to hit her but it was met with a blue sword. The woman has literally pulled it out of nowhere. He had seen Yuan do it before, so it didn't surprise him as much as the first time he saw the blue haired half-elf do it. He would have thought it was some kind of special magic trick if Raine hadn't spend two long, stressing hours explaining him it was a special technique (manipulating mana to form a weapon) after he came up with crazy theories about how Yuan could do that. Some of those theories included that he was some sort of magician, and instead of pulling a rabbit out of a hat he pulled the weapon out of his cape.

She sent him backwards pushing his swords with her own. Lloyd used Beast to throw her off balance and Sonic Sword Rain while she was distracted. After dodging another Beast and a Double Demon Fang, she wiped blood coming from her lip and grinned.

"Devil's Maw!" Agkelia's sword cut though his leg as Lloyd tried to dodge the familiar attack and felt a wave of dark mana expand from the place where her sword had slammed after cutting his leg. He had seen Emil use the attack many times before and had felt it too when he had fought the teenager, but this time it was more powerful. The woman stepped back as the red-clad swordsman tried to regain strength and began chanting. "O hellion whose roar chills the very soul, resound...Bloody Howling!" Lloyd was caught by the spell and did his best to keep himself from screaming in pain. Then he darted toward the woman "Rising Falcon!" His swords tore through her shoulder and mid section. Blood started to come out from the cuts and the now ragged clothes let her wounds in the open. She cast Heal and her wounds closed leaving small scars in their place.

"That's not fair. You can use healing spells" Lloyd pouted as the swordswoman was fully recovered.

The girl sighed and turned around, making her sword disappear. She walked and looked around side of the field. "Here" she tossed a bag filled with different kinds of gels, apple gels, pineapple gels, etc., to Lloyd and summoned her sword out again.

The brunette caught the bag just before it hit the ground, took a gel and left on one side of the field. He didn't have time to let the gel take effect because shortly after that he was hit by a Beast.

After thirty minutes most of the people who were training had gathered around the two humans watching them fight. You could see their chest rising quickly and heavily as they continued fighting. Both fighters were tired and, since Lloyd had run out of gels, Agkelia couldn't use healing arts anymore. They both had several cuts and bruises covering their bodies. Now, the watchers were just waiting to see who would run out of energy first. Agkelia used a Sonic Trust after dodging a Tempest. She put some distance between her and the brunet and started chanting. "Infinite power, gra-" she stopped her incantation as she felt her whole body aching. "Falcon's Crest!" Lloyd used one his strongest arts and stood panting as he watched the redhead on the floor. Said girl was fighting to catch her breath and felt blood flowing out the wound she had just received. Lloyd relaxed thinking he had won and turned to walk over to the other side to see if anyone had gels. The Eternal Swordsman wasn't able to hear an incantation being muttered by Agkelia as she kneeled on the ground and gathered the last of her strength. "Sacred powers cast your purifying light upon these corrupt souls. See you in hell! Judgment!" She smirked; she wasn't going to give up so easily. Lloyd's eyes grew as wide as plates as he felt rays of light fall and tear through his body. He screamed and fell unconscious.

"Heh, I think I win" she said before falling unconscious too.


End file.
